Modesty closure

ABSTRACT

A MODESTY CLOSURE IS PROVIDED FOR SNAP-FASTENED GARMENTS MADE OF NONWOVEN FABRIC. AN OVER-PANEL PORTION OF THE GARMENT IS FOLDED INWARDLY TO FORM A FLAP, AND A FIRST SNAP-FASTENER MEMBER IS ATTACHED THROUGH THE OVERPANEL AND THE FLAP. AN UNDER-PANEL PORTION IS SIMILARLY FOLDED INWARDLY TO FORM A FLAP PORTION, A MATING SNAPFASTENER ATTACHED TO THE UNDER-PANEL AND ITS FLAP, AND THE UNDER-PANEL FLAP FOLDED OUTWARDLY TO EXTEND BEYOND THE EDGE FOLD OF THE UNDER-PANEL PORTION.

Nov. 23., 1971 a. J. WILLARSON 3,621,490

MODESIY CLOSURE Filed March 9, 1970 WWW/4f l/fJ/f4 J may/W United States Patent 3,621,490 x MODESTY CLOSURE Barbara J. Willarson, Neenah, Wis., assignor to Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Neenah, Wis. Filed Mar. 9, 1970, Ser. No. 17,738 Int. Cl. A41d N00 US. Cl. 2-96 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to closures for snap-fastened garments made of nonwoven fabric material, and more particularly concerns a closure for such garments which permits the closure to afiord protective modesty for the wearer.

H Garments used as hospital scrub gowns and the like, although ordinarily worn over clothing, are usually fastened securely for aesthetic, if not modesty, reasons. Closuifes for this purpose. such as buttons, snaps, zippers, Velcro, and the like are usually employed. So long as the garment is made of a durable woven textile cloth, there islittle difiiculty in providing a suitable modesty closure. Where, however, the garment is fabricated by a disposable nonwoven fabric, the characteristics of nonwoven fabrics render the provision of a suitable modesty closure quite a different matter. Nonwoven fabrics are usually thin, soft materials that are neither as stiff nor as durable as woven cloth. Also, the requirement of disposability mitigates against expensive fasteners of the zipper or Velcro type.

The requirement of low cost which is inherent in disposable garments indirectly gives rise to a related problem.

To preserve an attractive garment appearance, external garment edges are usually folded over. Automatic equipment for attaching snap-fasteners to the folded edge are presently limited to mounting the fastener not more than an inch from the edge fold. Thus, there can be at most only a two-inch overlap at a snap-fastened closure, and this is too little for adequate modesty protection.

It is, accordingly, a major object of the invention to provide a modesty closure for snap-fastened nonwoven fabric garments, which closure afiords modesty protection even when apparatus for attaching snapfasteners to the garment edges are limited to placing the fastener quite close to the edge. A further object is to provide a low cost, attractive, closure for nonwoven garments that pro- ,vides the finished garment with an attractive appearance as well as secures protection for the wearer.

Another object is to provide a method of fabricating the modesty closure of the invention, which method is relatively simple to perform and which can be performed on conventionally available equipment.

Other and further aims, objects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds in conjunction with the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a garment incorporating the modesty closure of the invention, depicting the garment being worn with the closure fastened;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a closure section embodying the invention; and

3,621,490 Patented Nov. 23, 1971 FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2, illustrating the closure in its open position.

While the invention will be described in conjunction with a specific preferred embodiment, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to this particular embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalent arrangements as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Turning now to the drawings, and referring first to FIG. 1, a masculine garment 10 is depicted as it is worn with the closure fastened. The illustrative garment 10 is typically a hospital scrub gown, although it will be apparent that the closure of the invention is useful wth a variety of garments.

As indicated previously, the closure is of prime utility in conjunction with garments made of nonwoven fabric material. Nonwoven fabrics primarily comprise a thin mat of textile fibers bonded together into a sheet form, the sheet in turn containing one or several of such mats. Additional reinforcing in the form of scrim threads in one or several directions may be included where desired for additional strength and durability. Nonwoven fabric technology is well established, and reference to any of the standard texts may be made for illustrative techniques in manufacturing nonwoven fabrics, as for example Buresh, Nonwoven Fabrics (Reinhold, New York, 1962) and Krcma, Nonwoven Textiles (SNTC, Prague, 1962).

As indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3 taken in conjunction, the closure of the invention utilizes mating snap-fasteners 11, 12 to secure together the right, or over-panel, portion 14 to the left, or under-portion, panel 15. Preferably but not essentially the outer snap-fastener member 11 is the female member while the inner snap-fastener member 12 is the male.

As further indicated in FIG. 3, the over-panel portion 14 has an over-panel flap 16 made by folding the edge of the over-panel portion 14 about an edge fold 18, which is generally parallel with the edge 19 of the over-panel portion 14. Similarly, the under-panel portion 15 has an under-panel flap 20, which is made by folding the flap 20 at an edge fold 21 that likewise is generally parallel to the remote edge 22 of the under-panel portion 15.

The under-panel flap 20 is, however, folded twice. First, it is folded at the edge fold 21 and, after attaching the second snap-fastener member 12, is folded outwardly along a second fold 24 which is spaced away from the edge fold 21 and is generally parallel to it. As a result of this second folding operation, the under-panel flap 20 can and does extend as far as desired beyond the edge fold 21 to afford the desired modesty protection.

To fabricate a closure according to the invention, the over-panel portion 14 is folded inwardly about the edge fold 18 to form the under-panel flap 16, and similarly (although before or after the first fold above) the underpanel portion 15 is folded inwardly about the edge fold 21 to form an under-panel fold shown in phantom as 20a. Once a panel 14 and/or 15 is folded, the corresponding snap-fastener member 11, 12, respectively is attached to the corresponding panel portion, extending through the panel portion and the flap portion to lock them together permanently.

Any of the commercially available snap-fastener installing machines may be employed to attach the snapfastener members 11, 12 to the corresponding panels and flaps. The fasteners may be of varied type, but it has been found that Whippersnaps, supplied by the Scovill Company, have the multiple advantages of being insertable automatically, at high speed, and at low cost. However, and as stated earlier, automatic machines suitable for this purpose are capable only of installing snaps near the edges of the garment, and it is this limitation that gives rise to the modesty problem to which the invention is directed.

Returning again to FIG. 3, once the snap-fastener member 12 is attached to the panel 15 and its associated flap portion 20 (while the latter is in the position indicated at 20a), the flap portion 20a is again folded, about the fold 24, to extend outwardly with respect to the panel 15 and beyond the edge fold 21.

By way of illustration, it has been found that a satisfactory modesty closure may be provided for nonwoven fabric garments by positioning the snap fastener members 11, 12 as little as /2 inch away from the respective edge folds 18, 21, and by having the fasteners 3 inches apart. Spacing of the fastener members even closer to the edges and even further apart may be employed, and for many purposes this may be quite satisfactory.

In the exemplary embodiment described immediately above, the over-panel (or outer panel) flap 16 is about 2% inches wide, the distance between the edge fold 21 and the fold 24 on the under- (or inner) panel 15 is about We inch, and the distance between the edge 22 and the fold 24 of the under-panel flap 20 is about 2 inches.

Further in keeping with the invention, a notable advantage of the modesty closure as described is that the closure may be free of stitches, adhesives, or other fastening media, by reason of the fact that these snap-fastener members 11, 12 serve to lock their respective panel and flap portions together. The elimination of stitching or adhesives, it will be recognized, further contributes to the reduced cost and consequently increased availability of nonwoven fabric garments.

Near the bottom of the garment it is usually desirable, however, to adhesively or threadedly secure each flap 16, 20 to its respective panel 14, 15. Not only does this add to the appearance of the garment, but it assists in maintaining the under-panel flap 20, especially, in its protective position as shown in FIG. 3. In this regard it has been found that a strip of nonwoven fabric folded in half and threaded along the open edge to the bottom of the garment provides both an attractive and durable structure; for fabrication, the strip edges and garment bottom edge are aligned; a row of stitches is placed parallel to the edge;

and the folded strip folded downward along the stitcheslo terminate the garment.

Thus it is apparent that there has been provided, according to the invention, a modesty closure that fully satisfies the aims, objectives, and advantages set forth earlier.

I claim as my invention:

1. A modesty closure for a snap fastened garment made of a nonwoven fabric, which garment has a'nover-pa'nel and an under-panel snap-fastenably secured together, said closure comprising:

an over-panel portion of said garment having a flat portion folded inwardly of said panel portion;

a first snap-fastener member attached to and extending through said over-panel and said fiat portion;

an under-panel portion of said garment having a flat portion folded inwardly of said panel and Eag'ain folded outwardly of said panel parallel to said'fifrst fold, the two folds being spaced apart, said flat per tion extending outwardly beyond the firstffold of said under-panel; and I j a second snap-fastener member matable with saidifirs t snap-fastener member attached to and extending through said under-panel and the flat portion between said folds; I t

said first and second snap-fastener members being selectively spaced along said closure and being operable to substantially provided the sole means for locking said panels to their respective flap portions through: out substantially the length of said closure.

2. Closure of claim 1 wherein said first snap member is the female member and said second snap member is the male member.

3. A modesty closure as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said panels and its associated flap portion are secured together near the bottom of said garment. I

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/ 1948 Spearrin 2--234 11/1963 Lesnow 29 6 

